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Booking rooms & airfare for wedding

Hello, my fiance and I plan on getting married in Aug 2011 at CTI and plan on inviting about 25 people. Airfare rates for the week I want are not quite avail yet unless a charter flight is used, but for my guests they will have to use a regular flight and a travel agent is telling me that they will have to pay a deposit that will include the price of airfare (whatever that will be) plus a portion of room rate-which may end up being a very very expensive deposit. So I was wondering if this is true or is she trying to scam us or couldnt they just reserve the rooms and pay deposit for that and then buy their airfare whenever? If anyone could help me out please, I'm stressing out

1) If your guests book the hotel only, through Couples directly, they will pay US$400.00 as a deposit.

2) If they book both hotel and air, through Couples directly, they will pay $US1,500.00 as a deposit to cover the air fare.

Here's what we do. We book hotel only and pay the US$400.00. We book our air seperately, on our own. I watch the rates when they become available and pull the trigger when I find a rate I can live with.

I don't think she is trying to "scam" you. If you make the reservation with the air, the airfare usually has to be paid in full within 24 hours. I'm sure if they want to wait and buy the airfare separate they can do that also. A few things to take into consideration, if you get a good airfare and include it in the initial deposit it also can be covered by a cancel for any reason -get all your money back trip cancellation insurance policy. There are policies that you can purchase if you do separate components, normally these will cover you for medical reasons only and do include immediate family. Depending where you
are traveling from August airfares to the Caribbean are USUALLY
not that high. That said I bought my tickets for Jamaica in April for November and they were the highest I ever paid, about 200.00 above what I have paid in the past and they have just kept going up, they are now close to 850.00!!!
Ask the agent what the average air is for that time of year and go from there. There really are some good agents out there that want to help make this your trip of a lifetime!

You need to find a new (reputable) travel agent. This travel agent is lying to you. We have a very good travel agent and here is how we book our trip:

1) I watch the Hot Deals page on this web site and when the early booking rates (lately with a $500 resort credit) come out (usually in January), I talk to the travel agent and she books the resort portion of our trip. We put down a $400 deposit and then the balance isn't due until 45 days prior to our trip. This way we pay the same amount and she gets a commission from Couples. This also causes her to book our airfare with no commission from us.

2) She watches the air fare and when the rates come out (usually months later), she watches for what she thinks will be the best rate. Then we book the air and buy the trip insurance for the entire trip. We don't get the "pre-existing conditions" benefit for the resort, but Couples is very good about changing your dates with no penalty.

By the way, we have been to Couples 3 times and used our trip insurance on 2 of those trips…once for a weather related flight cancelation coming home and once for a medical issue while at Tower Isle.

So, in summary, book the resort in January or February 2011 and the air portion in March or April 2011 for your August trip. And....stop stressing!! If you need any more advice, you know where to get it!

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! We are getting married at CSA this November & have about the same number of guests. We too used an agent. Everyone that is coming booked the room though her & then found their own airfare. We did pay a deposit on the room when we booked & just now, 7 weeks out, had to pay the remaining balance.
Hope that helps, counting down the days as I'm sure you are!

How exciting to have your wedding in such a beautiful place. So we travel a lot and here is my two cents. You can book hotel now and flight later, put deposit on hotel only, but you might end up paying more. You can book on a travel site and you would have to pay for everything up front, or if your guest are Costco/Sam's Club, ect. Members they can book together for a pretty good deal, pay for the flight, and then pay off the rest of the trip 45 days in advance.